I've been a big fan of cellular laptops for years. It's 2025; why shouldn't all of my devices just automatically connect to the internet? In fact, that's one of the reasons I've always been hopeful for the future of Windows on Arm. Qualcomm used to consider integrated cellular modems one of the key value propositions of its platform, so you can get that additional connectivity without paying a premium.

Ever since the Snapdragon X Elite launched, that's not the case anymore, so we're back to 5G connectivity only being included in special variants of select laptops. The Surface Pro 11 is one of them, and while I already loved the Wi-Fi product when I reviewed it, the 5G model is even better.

Qualcomm provided a review unit of the Surface Pro 11 5G to XDA for review, and Microsoft provided the Wi-Fi model that was previously reviewed. Neither company had any input on the contents of this article.

Surface Pro, 11th Edition 5G pricing and availability

Microsoft sells two SKUs of the Surface Pro with 5G. The base model is $1,299.99, and that'll get you a Snapdragon X Plus 10-core chipset, 16GB RAM, and a 256GB SSD. For $1,799.99, you'll get a Snapdragon X Elite, 16GB RAM, a 512GB SSD, and the display will get upgraded to OLED.

Unfortunately, the 5G model only comes in the Platinum colorway, while Wi-Fi only gives you other options like Sapphire, Dune, and Black. It's also not available at most retailers where you'll find the Wi-Fi model. You can get it on the Microsoft Store, and certain carriers like Verizon.

A 5G tablet upgrades my life

Everything is more convenient

I originally requested this review unit before going on three weeks of travel where I'd essentially only be home on weekends. The first week was CES in Las Vegas, the second was the Valnet home office in Montreal, and the third was the Valnet office in New York. I wasn't able to obtain the device until February, but the reason still stands. Life is simply easier with 5G.

You don't have to give up your email address at Starbucks. You don't have to watch an ad to connect to Wi-Fi at the airport. You don't have to deal with unexpected Wi-Fi fees at a hotel. You don't have to deal with congested networks at conventions.

It's just easier.

5G is more secure, more convenient, and it's faster than public Wi-Fi.

Look, I know what you're thinking, because I hear it all the time. "I can just use my phone as a hotspot", and, "Doesn't pretty much everywhere have public Wi-Fi?"

It's true. There's almost always some other way to connect to the internet when you're out. But again, it's just easier. It's more secure than public Wi-Fi too, which is why 5G laptops are way more common in businesses than with consumers. But you, dear consumer, should still buy this product.

One minor design change

The Surface Pro 9 had a 5G model as well, and the removable panel on the back required a SIM card removal tool. It was strange, because the Wi-Fi only model had a panel that just popped off. I heard all sorts of reasons that it was like that, from security to people just expecting that that's how you change a SIM card.

With the Surface Pro 11 5G, that panel pops off, as it always should have.

5G is faster than Wi-Fi, when you need it to be

Ever used CES Wi-Fi in the pale moonlight?

I sit here, typing in my home, on my gigabit internet connection, where there is no way that a 5G laptop would beat it. 5G would, however, beat almost any hotel Wi-Fi I've ever used. Even good hotel Wi-Fi maxes out at around 50Mbps, and great hotel Wi-Fi probably hits about 100Mbps. And that's just download speeds. Forget about upload.

That's also why I originally wanted this laptop ahead of CES. I never attend CES with a laptop that can only connect to Wi-Fi. It just doesn't do the job when you're on a network with 100,000 other attendees. Also, CES started charging some ridiculous amount of money for Wi-Fi at some point (not exactly sure when, because I use 5G of course), probably because of just how poor of a job it did.

This one is a pretty specific use case, but 5G is really useful if you take business trips to China. As you may or may not know, China blocks a good portion of the internet, including sites from Google, Meta, and a whole bunch more. Going without Google sounds fine, but remember, you don't get access to your email, calendar, YouTube, and more. It won't even sync with third-party clients you use. But all of those things do work on your phone, because your phone has a US SIM card in it. And guess what. If your PC has a US SIM card, that'll work as well, as long as you're connected via 5G instead of Wi-Fi.

The Surface Pro shines with the Flex Keyboard

Microsoft finally nailed the design

OK, enough about 5G. Let's talk about the product itself. The Surface Pro, 11th Edition is the best Surface Pro ever made. Typically, that's a cliche. Of course the new thing is supposed to be better than the old thing. But for this product's 11th generation, it has a feature that makes it, at least for one reason, better then a traditional laptop. It's called the Flex Keyboard.

The Flex Keyboard made me feel more comfortable than using a traditional laptop.

The difference between that and the old Surface Keyboard is simple — when you disconnect it, you can still use it over Bluetooth. Microsoft used examples like being able to type in small spaces, but frankly, it's not even very good for that. What it is good for is neck strain from using a laptop. You don't have to look down at the small screen anymore, because you can push it back now. It sounds simple, but it's something you can't do with a laptop.

The Flex Keyboard is also a more modern version of the old attachable cover, packing a haptic touchpad and a quieter keyboard. It's pretty great, and it's worth the extra money.

Over the years, I've been pretty critical of the Surface Pro, because it's historically struggled to justify its existence as a tablet. If you were to ask why one would buy it over a laptop, there really wasn't a reason, but the Flex Keyboard really makes this product shine.

Snapdragon X Elite finally delivers a solid Windows on Arm experience

You get great battery life and performance

With an OLED display, a Snapdragon X Elite, and a minimum 16GB RAM, the Surface Pro is just a good computer. The Snapdragon X Elite SKU is the X1E-80-100, which is the one you want. The X1E-78-100 doesn't have boost cores, and it shows in products like the HP OmniBook X and Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x.

We're approaching a year since Snapdragon X series first launched, and the bulk of applications in use are native. Microsoft originally estimated that 87% of your time will be spent in native apps, and that number should be higher now with apps like Google Drive joining, and much more. There are still some holdouts though, including a bunch of Adobe apps. But Chrome, Slack, Microsoft apps, and pretty much any web browser is native to Windows on Arm now.

Performance and battery life are great. You won't miss Intel, unless you're playing games, which you're probably not doing on a tablet that's a third of an inch thick. You're looking at a solid 8-9 hours of battery life, so for the first time, there's a Windows tablet that actually has the battery life you'd expect from a tablet. For years, we've been promised way more than we actually got, because most OEMs just run battery tests with local video playback; in other words, in a way that no one actually uses their PC.

Buying a laptop with a Copilot+ NPU future-proofs you if you're keeping it for a few years.

I don't want to skip over the NPU, which is the same whether you get the Snapdragon X Plus or the X Elite. It's capable of 45 TOPS INT8, so it comes with the suite of Copilot+ features that Microsoft has been touting. Ultimately though, this isn't something you'll want so you can get features like Recall. It's something you'll want just to be able to run AI workloads. There are going to be models that enhance other things that you're working on, and if you're planning to keep your new PC for a few years, I wouldn't sleep on that.

The Surface Pro still has its flaws

Windows is notoriously bad for consumption

The rest of the tablet market has very much gone down the road that Microsoft paved with Surface, adding pens and keyboards to the mix, but I'm still reminded of when Steve Jobs said that the only stylus you need is your finger. That logic still applies to a lot of how you'd use an iPad, and for that use case, Windows is notoriously terrible.

If you use a tablet for reading books or watching movies and TV shows, the Surface Pro is still pretty awful at that. I understand that that's not who this product is aimed at, but I want to be clear that this is not a device that will combine the use cases of a laptop and an iPad for you.

For a brief period, Android apps were available on Windows 11, and while the experience wasn't perfect, at least you could get proper apps for Amazon Kindle, Disney+, Netflix, and so on. Windows Subsystem for Android support just ended, and even before it did, it never actually worked on Snapdragon X series PCs. If you want to read a Kindle book on a Surface, you have to use the web reader. The Disney+ app exists on Windows, but it's a web wrapper and doesn't support downloading shows for offline viewing. For just about any consumption app, it either exists on Windows in a more limited capacity than iOS or Android, or it doesn't exist at all and you have to use a web browser.

I love the Surface Pro, and with 5G, I'll take it everywhere with me. But I'll have an iPad in my bag too.

Should you buy the Surface Pro 11th Edition 5G?

You should buy the Surface Pro, 11th Edition 5G if:

• You're buying a Surface Pro
• You use your laptop outside of fast, regular Wi-Fi networks
• You regularly use a laptop, but you strain your neck looking down at it

You should NOT buy the Surface Pro, 11th Edition 5G if:

• You leave your laptop on the same desk, all the time
• You just don't want a Windows tablet

First of all, if you're buying a Surface Pro, you should get one with 5G. It's just a better experience. If you use something like Google Fi, you won't even have to pay for the data SIM. And if your PC never leaves your home, I'm not sure why you'd be buying a Surface Pro to begin with.

If you don't want a tablet but you still want 5G, and you should, there are options available. However, they're few and far between on the consumer market. Microsoft is going to offer a Surface Laptop 5G later this year, but just for businesses. Lenovo offers a whole range of ThinkPads, Dell offers a range of Latitudes, and HP offers a range of EliteBooks, all with cellular connectivity options. But again, they're business products.

For a consumer laptop with cellular connectivity, the Surface Pro, 11th Edition is the way to go.